HELP! Dyno white smoke

[wrx02blk]

02 WRX 2.0 VF39 swap with 99,000 miles, sti pinks had a dyno appointment today and after the first pull (only 191whp) started pouring out white smoke of the tailpipe. Smells sweet like coolant. Guessing head gasket or turbo????? Any feedback!!!!!! It's my only car so I need to fix it asap!

[Poohbear]

How is the car running? Is it missing at all? Sounds like it could be one of your head gaskets... You can find out which one and if it is a head gasket by doing a quick compression test. Cylinder or cylinders with the break in the gasket will show very low compression...

[SD_GR]

Isn't the car already at a garage anyway? Haven't they figured out what's wrong?

[wrx02blk]

I found the coolant leak at the throttle body but the worst news is I was driving it home and started to hear a knock and before I could pull over I lost all power and died on me and won't start back up. I'm having it towed back to my house so I can take a look at it after work tomorrow. Any suggestions? I assume a rod or bearing but and just guessing at this point.

[Saint1]

Yea it seems like a rod bearing. same thing happened to me.

[Poohbear]

This may be a little insult to injury; but why did you drive it if you suspected head gasket? White smoke like you described is not something that I would say puts a car into drivable condition...

[wrx02blk]

Like I had stated it was not a head gasket, it was leaking at the throttle body. I bypassed the throttle body and the smoke stopped.

[Poohbear]

ahh well the way you stated it, what with brilliant punctuation and all. I wasn't sure if you found the leak before or after you decided to try and drive a broken down car home. Also never said it wasn't the head gasket, my mistake for lack of making assumptions.

Poor motor must have seen some strain on that dyno. Lost coolant seals and now something internal. Sounds like a spun bearing, curious that it wont want to start though (or at least try). When you turned the car over did you hear any other mechanical noises? metal on metal sounds and what not? no codes I guess since you didnt mention any?

[wrx02blk]

No biggy, I was in kind of a hurry when I typed it as I'm using my phone waiting for a tow truck so I didn't state it very clear.

Very horrible metal sounds coming from the engine when I tried to start it but no codes. I never looked into what oil to run so for the past 30,000 miles I've been using Mobil 1 5W30 so I guess I'm pretty sure at this point it's a spun bearing. Crank regrind and new bearings I'm hoping is all that's needed.

[Poohbear]

Well in my experience (this is not from a subaru) an old jeep i had spun a bearing but still ran. Knocked like it was its job but still started and ran. May be different with subarus, but then again all the spun silver bearings in the 09's and they still ran.

Also a spun bearing is pretty specific in sound. I wouldn't think you would hear a multitude of sounds from under the hood. Just the one, and maybe the car trying to start.

[wrx02blk]

I guess I'm just being optimistic with the spun bearing.

I've always wanted to do a EJ257 short block but not in such short notice.

[scooby-do]

No biggy, I was in kind of a hurry when I typed it as I'm using my phone waiting for a tow truck so I didn't state it very clear.

Very horrible metal sounds coming from the engine when I tried to start it but no codes. I never looked into what oil to run so for the past 30,000 miles I've been using Mobil 1 5W30 so I guess I'm pretty sure at this point it's a spun bearing. Crank regrind and new bearings I'm hoping is all that's needed.

I was there 2 months ago. 100K miles on mine. I was not on a dyno but was out in the snow and popped my motor- I spun #3 bearing.

Just something to look out for before you get a new short block.

There has been issues with the heads cracking right at the tip of the spark plug. The cracks radiate out toward the valves. Mine were cracked to the valves and I had to replace the heads.

After mine was apart the only thing i did not replace were basically the cams. So now I have a 2.2 stroker (lengthened stroke- not bored).

As far as my experience with oil. There are many discussions out there regarding oil. But ran Mobile 1 for the first 30K miles and had excessive consumption. In talking to my shop (high performance shop) it has been examined and Mobil 1 tend to break down quicker than other oils, especially with a turbo.

Since this discussion I have been running motul and have not had any problems...

(the oil had nothing to do with my motor going BOOB!! It was me playing to hard.)

I wish you the best of luck- It is not a fun process when it is your daily driver..